Another Me
by This Girl Called Beka
Summary: Bet you never saw this one coming... Someone makes it back to Andromeda. (Chapter 5's up)
1. Prologue

**Title:** Another Me  
**Author:** Pocket Full of Stardust  
**Rating:** PG  
**Status:** Completed  
**Spoilers:** Last Call at the Broken Hammer (I think, and everything before that… Trance is still purple)

**Disclaimer:** Don't own them, hehe! As if I had to tell ya. The only ones I own are the original characters you'll meet later.

**Summary:** Some one returns...but in a VERY unexpected way... A Trance story, but everyone will be included.  
**Author's Notes:** This Fic was written in response to Rosie's challenge at Slipstream BBS, when that BBS existed…I'd tell you about the challenge, but that would give too much away!  
  


  
**Prologue: The New Beginning**  
  
It was gone.  
  
Trance fidgeted, an action hardly unusual for the girl. But this was different; a part of her was missing. Her purple completion was slightly more pale than usual, reflecting the quick surgery's stressful impact on her.  
  
Her movements brought Tyr's questioning gaze upon her, and she paused to glance at him. The Nietzchean didn't have to say a word.  
  
"My tail itches," Trance explained quickly, shifting her weight from foot to foot. The stub that used to be attached to a pretty, long tail hurt.  
  
Tyr almost grinned. "Then perhaps it isn't really gone."  
  
Trance Gemini smiled mysteriously. He had no idea how right he was...  
  
  


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Short, I know, But I promise to add more ASAP. Some of you may recognize this story… Well, that's because its been posted here before, as well as other places. But for some reason it disappeared from FF.Net, so I'm reposting it! Hehe. Enjoy, and please review! It only takes a sec!


	2. Chapter One

**Chapter One: The Simple Things**  
  
Eleven months later, too many things had changed. Rommie's hair acquired deep blue streaks for no apparent reason. The Commonwealth was -somehow- pulled back together. Seamus Harper's Magog visitors were removed successfully...and it only cost him his Best Friend. Trance, as they had known her, was gone - replaced by a cold warrior, a mere shadow of the warmth and joy she had once possessed.  
  
Harper frowned as he stared down at Fiona, a beautiful daisy...that Trance had loved. It hadn't been fair. He never got to say goodbye. His purple princess was just gone. And then she had appeared.  
  
Sure, she resembled Trance, but this gold woman with long dreadlocks was not his Trance. His Trance, the innocent purple pixie, was forever gone.  
  
Harper gazed at the floor, rich soil and greenery meeting his eyes. Trance never came to Hydroponics anymore. It was like she was trying to avoid anything his Trance had cared about - deny the mistakes she claimed to wish to correct. Mistakes his Trance would never have a chance to make.  
  
He hated that. Even if she had made mistakes, nothing she could ever do could warrant ripping her away from the people who loved her, her friends. Her best friend.  
  
His hand rose to his cheek, touching a memory he puzzled over, and thought of frequently. Harper had never felt a kiss that meant as much as that single peck had. So much of Trance's universal love and concern had been compressed at that moment into a sweet, innocent little kiss. It had been a very Trance thing to do. It had been the last time he had seen her, before...  
  
The unsympathetic hiss of the doors behind him interrupted his thoughts. It annoyed him. Feeling sorry for himself was strangely satisfying.  
  
The heavy, unfaltering footsteps that followed added to the aggravation. "What?" he demanded, sliding around to see who was barging into what he then considered his personal domain.  
  
He wasn't surprised to see that weather gold face staring back at him. Immediately, Harper turned away. That was one person he was not in the mood to see. "You don't come here anymore, remember?"  
  
"I thought you would be here," she told him. Even her voice was all wrong. It was supposed to be soft and innocent, not evenly controlled.  
  
"Just leave me alone." He could almost see her frowning. Here it came: that crap about being "the same Trance, only different". He had come to hate that speech.  
  
~~~  
  
Just when she thought things between them were getting back to normal again, someone threw a wrench in the coffee maker. Trance knew it would take time for him -for all of them- to adjust to the "new" her, but it was hard to wait that long.  
  
Her hand reached out to rest comfortingly on his shoulder, but pulled away at the last moment. "I'm still Trance...your friend. That won't change."  
  
She watched Harper move farther away from her, like she was a disease to be avoided. The plants in Hydroponics finally caught her eye, and she cringed. Stepping into what had once been her sanctuary was unbelievably awkward. Trance hadn't even set foot in her old quarters. For her, before her trek back into her past, the ANDROMEDA had long since been destroyed. Seeing it then was as if she were visiting a ghost of what she had known, and that was not easy to cope with.  
  
Pushing her uncomfortable feelings aside, Trance moved on to business. "You're forgetting something."  
  
"Hmm, let me see," he mumbled sarcastically. "No. I don't think so. Nope. Nada. Zip."  
  
"The Maru..."  
  
His shoulders slumped. "Oh. Right. I was meaning to talk to you about that."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"Yeah, I think you should find someone else to drag along. I'm...not feeling well."  
  
Trance looked him over from where she was standing. It was true, he wasn't looking his best, but she doubted it was the result of an illness. "You should have reported to Med. Deck, then."  
  
"You know me: I hate to be sick," he joked, but something in his voice didn't sound right. He was hiding something.  
  
"Harper, there is nothing wrong with you," Andromeda's voice told him firmly. "I scanned you three times. Nothing is wrong."  
  
Harper glared at her on-screen image, but said nothing.  
  
Trance nodded to the Andromeda A.I. and headed for the door. "I expect to see you on the Maru in twenty minutes. You don't want to make me come looking for you again." She was trying to tease him, but something about the way she saw him flinch from the corner of her eye told her it hadn't quite worked.  
  
In the hall, she paused at a computer access panel. "Andromeda?"  
  
"Yes, Trance?"  
  
"Thanks for your help."  
  
The A.I. smiled a little. "It was nothing. He's going to have to get used to you sooner or later. I just thought I'd try to help things along."  
  
Trance actually smiled. It felt nice to do that again. To smile. She didn't get to do that very often anymore. Too many ...unsettling memories floating through her mind. "See you in a couple of days," she said. "And don't worry. Everything will be fine."  
  
The golden woman wished she could believe that. But it seemed to be the natural pattern of her life that nothing ever went exactly according to plan. And this trip would most likely be no different.  
  
--------------------------------  
  
Dylan stood on the Command Deck of the ANDROMEDA ASCENDANT, watching the main viewer. He knew sending Harper and Trance on a mission together was a good idea, even considering the last time. With Trance now perhaps Tyr's equal in combat, he was not worried about Gerentex hijacking the MARU. Beka on the other hand...  
  
She was pacing. Dylan grinned as Beka Valentine continued to rant and ramble. "How could you possibly consider it? You can't trust her! She's not the same Trance anymore! But noooo! 'Take the Maru, Trance. Beka won't mind.' Beka won't mind, my --"  
  
"Beka," he interrupted, struggling to erase the amusement from his face. "They'll be fine."  
  
"You can't trust her!"  
  
"No, I can't."  
  
"Then why did you give her my ship! ...Wait a second, you can't give her my ship!"  
  
Hunt couldn't stop himself. He laughed.  
  
"Oh yeah," Beka growled. "You laugh now. But it won't be so funny when the Maru doesn't come back, now, will it?"  
  
Dylan grew serious quickly. "She won't leave."  
  
His first officer crossed her arms, leaning against the wall. "You sound sure of yourself."  
  
"I am. It doesn't serve her purpose to go. She needs the Andromeda."  
  
Beka frowned. "Then why are they going in the first place?"  
  
"Because Trance cares about her friends: us. She wants to regain Harper's trust. Its as simple and innocent as it sounds," Dylan told her confidently. "And that is why I let her take the Maru. He needs to accept the new Trance. Harper's been driving himself crazy, and you know it."  
  
She couldn't argue with that, and all her fire and fury seemed to drain away. The two of them watched in silence as the MARU appeared on the main viewer, pulled out of the docking bay, and entered slipstream a few seconds later.  
  
"Have a nice trip."  
  
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Well, that's Chapter One! Whatcha think? Love/hate it? Want ta see more soon? Tell me! Hehe I'm a big girl; I can take some criticism, so give it to me, baby! ^_~


	3. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two: One Long Tale**  
  
Briani awoke with a start. She always did. Her eyes still closed, she slipped her hand under her pillow. The cool metal of her blaster reassured her a bit, but not enough. Pulling her blaster, and leaping to her feet in one fluid motion, Briani stood ready for an attack, an instinctive reaction she had developed.  
  
Satisfied she was alone, the young woman holstered her weapon, but her right hand always hovered near it. Just in case. She didn't trust Kalderans. Didn't even trust most of her own people. Couldn't take the chance.  
  
The cool morning rays of the sun filtered through the hole in the wall that pretended to be a window. She had over slept, again.  
  
--------------------------  
  
Unnatural clouds of black hung over the wasteland. To the untrained eye, the setting would have been indistinguishable from most any other place on the planet, Svorog's Anvil. Everything was in ruins. Buildings were literally falling apart, crumbling to dust as a result of Kalderan raids. The road was blanketed in a thick layer of debris, and was merely a path to death and destruction. Scorch marks became the signatures of individual battles, and fires. Briani could account for them all. She had been there. It was part of her job.  
  
Dodging through the wreckage, she moved in complete silence and sought a route offering the cover she needed to move about without detection. The Kalderans were gone, but she feared their return. It would have been just her luck for them to attack right when she was in route to work.  
  
Her path was changed every day, to throw off anyone trying to follow her. She knew the area like the settings of her blaster. All members of the Resistance did.  
  
With one final look behind her, Briani eased her body through a narrow hole, sheltered from the view of the world by a unique angle and a few withered trees, plus the occasional bolder. Black soot lined the ragged opening, hopefully giving the appearance of an impact point, explaining the hole. Unless someone knew what to look for, they wouldn't give it a second thought.  
  
"You're late. Again."  
  
She nearly jumped. Her hand went for her blaster before she thought, and Briani whirled on the voice. No one was going to catch her off guard and live to tell about it.  
  
"Very good. Very good, indeed. You may live to a ripe old age with that attitude." It was Ziloc -- if that was his real name. He was perhaps the oldest man she had ever seen, but that wasn't saying much. People didn't tend to live very long with Kalderan soldiers around.  
  
She would never get used to it; every time she turned around, it seemed like he was there. That was a very unnerving thought, actually. "Don't. Do that," Briani hissed, grudgingly lowering her weapon.  
  
Ziloc had quite a bit of money tucked away, it was rumored, and Briani could believe it. He was a collector, a finder of artifacts. He had a collection of relics from all key points in their planet's history. Seemed to think the past was important, perhaps even more so than the present. It was odd to her, since she lived day to day, never worrying about what tomorrow would bring, and trying not to remember yesterday.  
  
"That's the third time this week," Ziloc continued, ignoring her comment. "If you're late again, the Doku Museum will no longer be inclined to sponsor your education."  
  
Briani winced mentally. Finishing school was her one chance to escape this backwater planet and actually do something with her life. Her parents had lived and died to provide her with knowledge and useful skills, but without the help of Ziloc's "museum", she wouldn't have a chance on her own.  
  
"Yes, sir. I understand."  
  
Ziloc patted her shoulder. "Then get to work, Briani Tiez." His voice was as gentle as the old warrior could make it. She smiled. He had been the closest thing to a father she'd had since her parents were both killed ten months ago. He was all she had left.  
  
The old man disappeared into the shadows, just as he always did, and Briani climbed over fallen support beams and other obstacles created when a building begins to collapse upon itself. Dust was layered on the floor, and her thick boots sent a small cloud of it rising into the air with each step.  
  
She didn't stop until she reached a wall battered and, to the untrained eye, immoveable. Only battle scars adorned the rough surface, and a thin layer of rust began to eat away at the small sections of exposed metal.  
  
Tossing a long glance into the shadows around her, she watched carefully for any movement, any sign that someone else was present. Pulling her eyes back to the wall, Briani rested a hand on the cool surface, applying gentle pressure.  
  
When her hand dropped back to her side, a dimly lit impression of her handprint beamed through the wall. As the light went out, she glared sideways at the surrounding area, daring someone -anyone- to try and sneak past her.  
  
The wall parted in a jagged line through the middle, but no crack had been visible before. A dark black tunnel was revealed, in much better shape than anything she had seen earlier. The steps leading downward were clean, and bright. The walls of the tunnel were made of a nice, solid metal, braced and supported by huge beams. Thin, dim lights lined the path on each side, providing the only source of light.  
  
Briani entered, knowing the wall was already sealing behind her. Time for work.  
  
Everyday, she completed an inventory, using a hand-held scanner Ziloc had acquired somehow. Several chambers were interconnected underground, and each one of them represented a different aspect of their culture. One of them in particular was her favorite. She wasn't sure why.  
  
Maybe it was the unexplainable urge to smile she always felt upon entering. Or perhaps she simply admired Ortiz and anything connected with her. She was, in fact, one of Briani's childhood heroes.  
  
The strange relics ranged from a DNA sample the Kalderans acquired, and promptly discarded, to a piece of ragged clothing. Briani grinned at the memory of the Resistance report from that day. Apparently, some off- worlders had decided to help Ortiz, and, to buy themselves more time to prepare, gave the Kalderans a body. When they sampled the body's DNA, and found it was not who they sought, the Kalderans threw the sample away. That had been quite a story.  
  
In fact, one of those off-worlders had been injured, Briani remembered, trudging to the far side of the room. A long stasis chamber took up a large section of the room, pushed against the far wall. It looked like a modified torpedo to Briani, but she was no engineer, so...  
  
The glass panel on the lid was fogged over completely, and she crept up to peer inside. When she had first learned of the contents of the chamber, Briani hadn't believed it. It couldn't be the tail.  
  
But it was.  
  
Briani leaned over the chamber, and brushed the ice crystals from the lid. Pressing her face against the glass, she looked inside. Furrowing her brow, she blinked and looked again, thinking her eyes were fooling her somehow. And then she started to panic.  
  
It was gone.  
  
"Whatcha looking for?" a shy voice asked from behind her.  
  
Briani turned sharply, and grabbed from her blaster...but it wasn't where it should have been either! Glaring fiercely at the silhouetted outline of a girl before her.  
  
"Oh...You're probably looking for this, huh?" the girl asked, holding the blaster with her tail. What? Tail?  
  
"What are you?" Briani asked in wonder, finally pulling the pieces together.  
  
"I'm...well...I'm Trance." She sounded so innocent.  
  
Briani lunged at her, trying to tear the gun away. But she had underestimated the girl, and somehow ended up flat on the floor, the breath knocked out of her.  
  
"I think I'd like to leave, now," Trance told her firmly, the complete opposite of how she had acted before. The blaster mocked Briani as it aimed downward at her. "Take me, please. Now."

TBC…

Soooooo… Love it, hate it? Hehe thanks to those of you who reviewed! Please do so again. I may not post the whole thing if I don't get the reviews I'm after, so those of you who haven't read it will just have to…well, review! ^_~  
  



	4. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three: Split Ends**  
  
Harper's hands gripped the yokes of the MARU so tightly, his knuckles were bleaching white. Flying through slipstream without any cares to safety, he took every risk he could get away with. Daring the universe to smack him down once more and beating it at its own game was extremely thrilling, and helped him vent a good portion of his anger.  
  
He could see why Beka had become such a good pilot. With everything stressful that had been going on, she must have gotten a lot of practice.  
  
"Harper, have you been taking flying lessons from Beka?" Sounded like she was teasing, but Harper didn't care.  
  
"Why did I have to go on this mission?" Harper snapped. Obviously, he hadn't quite vented enough... "You could have taken Beka. Seems like that would have been better for everyone concerned."  
  
"I didn't mean to--"  
  
Suddenly he realized who he was talking to: Trance. Harper groaned, exiting slipstream, and pulling around to face her. "I know, Trance. I'm...sorry." But then he reminded himself that she wasn't Trance any more -- not his best friend. She was a monster in Trance costume. But if that were true, why did he feel so terrible about upsetting her?  
  
Trance looked right in his eyes, and Harper turned his head away. That didn't seem right. She almost never met anyone else's gaze. Well, his Trance never did, anyway.  
  
Trance was his own personal version of Satan's robot, cold, fierce, and painfully annoying. She was the thorn in his side, the straw that broke the droid's back. She was the plague. And there was nothing he could do to escape her.  
  
~~~  
  
"I don't know why either of us are here, except that Dylan sent us," Trance told him, and she wasn't exactly lying. Not about everything. "I didn't ask to come."  
  
Harper said nothing, and Trance stared into him, trying to see what was hurting him inside. The way he snapped at her was a cry for help, she thought, and she meant to answer that cry. Somehow.  
  
Boldness was something her youth had lacked, but now she felt it was required. "Why do you have such a problem with me?" she asked quietly, averting her gaze.  
  
"Because you aren't her!" he exclaimed, slamming his fist into the arm of the slip chair. "You aren't my friend," Harper growled with his back to her. "I never knew you, and I don't want to know you."  
  
Trance watched him, a blank expression hiding the pain she felt inside. He had no idea how much that hurt, but it didn't matter. She knew what was wrong.  
  
~~~  
  
Harper glared at the control panels in front of him, burning from Trance's question. Taking the yokes firmly in both hands, he prepared to re-enter slipstream. The sooner the mission was over, the sooner he could get away from her.  
  
He couldn't explain why he was so angry, nor did he try. But every word she spoke, and every move she made felt like an attack. No, he didn't feel that she was a threat to him, but that woman was threatening everything he had known about his Trance. It shook the very foundation of everything he remembered, and reminded him how little he had actually known about the girl. He hated that too.  
  
Sure, he didn't know much, and what he had discovered was vague and undefined, but at least it was something. And now this gold person was threatening that sliver of knowledge, and his memories of the way Trance had been.  
  
Neither of them spoke again, and the tension continued to build. When the MARU finally exited slipstream for the last time, Harper was ready to escape. "Look, I don't know about you, but I bet this mission would go a lot smoother --not to mention faster-- if we split up," he said quickly, then climbing out of his chair. "So I guess I'll see ya later. Have fun shopping, Goldie," Harper finished. Not giving Trance a chance to protest, he made a mad dash for the docking port, and scrambled onto Luzmaria Drift.  
  
Finally, he was alone.  
  
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Okee, short, short chapter, I know… Hehe. The next one will be up soon after I get a few more reviews, promise! Hehe. Thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter Four

**_Chapter Four: Once the Wheel Starts Turning_**  
  
Waking up in a frozen box was not fun.  
  
Finding someone with a gun looking for you minutes later is just annoying.  
  
But when push came to kick, Trance Gemini walked away from the situation in complete control. ...Sort of...  
  
"There's nothing I can do!" the young woman insisted sharply. Trance was beginning to wonder if she was broken like the records Harper had told her about; she kept repeating herself.  
  
"I have to get off this planet," Trance told her again. "There must be some way to arrange that."  
  
She shook her head. "I'm afraid not. And I'm not inclined to help with that blaster in my face either."  
  
Trance had forgotten about that. "Oh," she murmured, and placed it at arm's reach. "What's your name?"  
  
The question seemed to frighten the woman, and she looked like she was debating whether or not to answer for a period afterward. Trance stayed extremely patient, and smiled encouragingly at her. Finally, she muttered, "Briani."  
  
"Briani," the purple girl said sweetly, "could I at least send a message to my friends? ...I'm sure they would come and pick me up."  
  
"No." Briani didn't even pause long enough to consider it.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
~~~  
  
Ha! Use the communications system? ...Who ever this girl was, she was obviously either very stupid, or incredibly smart. The communications channels used by the outside galaxy were never touched by members of the Resistance, solely for security reasons. Sure, the Resistance had its own web of communications relays on a specially created, ultra secret frequency, but the channel was not opened unless it was an emergency. Breaking code to satisfy this girl would have been out of the question. Briani would have died first.  
  
Briani's gaze was tugged toward the blaster. She had been more than shocked when the girl had put it down. Right at that instant, though, it presented a tempting escape.  
  
But for the moment, she decided to stay calm, and try to understand the one who claimed to be Trance. Oh, she didn't believe her for an instant. Trance Gemini had left Svorog's Anvil with the rest of the off-worlders, leaving her tail behind.  
  
If she wasn't Trance, then what did she want with the tail? And how was the tail now attached to her? ...It didn't make sense.  
  
"Who are you?" she asked curiously.  
  
"I told you already. My name is Trance, and I would very much like to leave."  
  
Interesting. "Trance Gemini?" Briani chuckled. "That's impossible. She left this planet with her friends eleven months ago."  
  
~~~  
  
Trance hid her surprise well. Inside she was bubbling over with questions and conflicting memories, and outside there was no change in her calm expression. "No, I didn't leave. If I had left, I wouldn't be here. But I'm here, so you must be mistaken."  
  
"Why don't you just tell me who you really are and what faction you're working for? You're going to do that before you kill me, aren't you? Most villains do," Briani growled, glaring at her.  
  
"My name is Trance!" This wasn't happening. It couldn't have been happening. Her friends wouldn't leave her. Harper wouldn't leave his "pixie" behind... Would he?  
  
She didn't want to believe that Briani was right. Didn't want to face the fact that something terrible had happened to her, and possibly her friends. There had to be a sensible explanation for all of it, but Trance couldn't see that right then.  
  
"Please," Trance pleaded, tears beginning to collect in her eyes. "I just want to find out what happened to me. Where my friends are. Please."  
  
"Prove it."  
  
Trance blinked, curiously watching Briani. "Huh?"  
  
"Give me proof that you are Trance Gemini, and I'll do anything I can to help you."  
  
The purple girl paused, considering the offer. When she looked up again, there was a sheer determination in her eyes. "I'll do it."  
  
------------------------  
  
"I don't care what the regulations are, Brit. I have to speak to Isabella Ortiz."  
  
Briani sat at the one communications relay in the basement, leaning forward so far that her nose almost brushed against the screen. All the red tape was supposed to be a good thing, but lately, she had found it to be far more troublesome than it was worth.  
  
"I'm sorry, Tiez, that's just not possible. You know what would happen if we let every person who wanted a word with her to have it. We'd never get anything done," Brit, a very military-looking woman, told her firmly. "Ortiz is very busy as it is. And besides that, it wouldn't be safe!"  
  
"I'm not asking for much -- just a few minutes of her time," she countered, frowning. She already knew the other Resistance officer's answer.  
  
"I would help you if I could. Believe me."  
  
She had been hoping to avoid revealing anything to Brit, or anyone else over the communications channel, but it looked like she had no choice. "Look, this could be a matter of life and death. I've tried to gain access to a Resistance transport, but my clearance level's not high enough! I have no where else to turn."  
  
"Have you tried talking to General Tarandus or Military Advisor Godeskian? Maybe they could help you." Brit was trying to help out, and Briani knew that, but her suggestions only made the situation look that much more desperate.  
  
"I've tried everybody who ever owed my family a favor, even some friends of the family - no one is willing to take the risk." She's been at this for hours, and it was starting to show. She would have to play her last card soon, and hope for the best.  
  
Brit sighed, and Briani could see the helplessness in her face. She really wanted to help, but there was nothing she thought she could do. Briani decided to change that.  
  
"Your sister's name is Jadis, right, Brit? ...And wasn't her life saved by a certain purple visitor?"  
  
She made a face, but nodded. She was obviously wondering what that had anything to do with Briani.  
  
"What if I told you I had Trance Gemini here, and she's the one who needs your help, not me?"  
  
"Trance...Gemini? Briani," Brit sighed loudly, "I know you mean well, but dragging her into this isn't going to help you. I know for a fact that she is no longer on the planet."  
  
Briani grinned. "But if she was, would you arrange for the chat with Ortiz?"  
  
"That really doesn't matter, since she's not there."  
  
She knew a good opportunity when she saw one, and this was it - her best shot at finding her way off this forsaken planet. Motioning for the girl to step into the view of the screen, Briani backed up to make room. "They say seeing is believing..."  
  
Trance shyly peeked at the screen, waving. "H-hi."  
  
On the screen, the woman gasped, her eyes wide as saucers.  
  
"Well, Brit? What do you think now?"  
  
The woman was silent for several moments, and when she spoke, she sounded shocked. "I'll...send someone over right away."  
  
----------------------------  
  
Trance climbed into the shuttle gracefully, looping her tail around her ankle. Ortiz had been kind enough to supply the SHOOTING STAR after a very long chat. It seemed as if she was still very grateful to Trance for helping her all those months ago, and was as puzzled as everyone else to find her back on their planet without any knowledge of how she got there.  
  
The "missing" memories taunted Trance. That had to be the answer, though. The thought that her friends had abandoned her there was just not believable. Somehow, something had happened to her, that much was certain. But the hows, whys, and whos were as of yet a mystery, even to the purple one.  
  
~~~  
  
"Course, Miss Gemini?" the pilot requested.  
  
"Smirk, Morgan. You know you want to," Briani teased him. That man had been grinning ever since he saw Trance. Briani couldn't blame him, though. They were meeting a living legend among the Resistance. She and her friends had saved Ortiz's life, it was told, and for that, the whole community was thankful.  
  
"Oh shut it," Morgan muttered, rolling his eyes.  
  
Mercury's Winter, a female Amber Than serving as the STAR's environmental systems officer, tapped a computer panel along the wall. A chart of neighboring systems popped onto the screen.  
  
Briani watched as Trance crept toward it, and finally pointed to a seemingly random area of the map. "There. We should go there."  
  
"Winter, what's in that region of space," Briani asked curiously.  
  
"A few inhabitable planets, a dragon-class star, and Luzmaria Drift."  
  
Trance smiled calmly at Briani, giving a little nod at the end.  
  
"Then by all means, set a course for Luzmaria Drift," she said quickly, sitting down in a comfortable chair and strapping in. This was going to be an interesting trip.  
  
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Hehe Sorry about the looooooooong wait! Hehe… Been busy applying to college and such, so… Hehe ^,^


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